“Steven Schwen of Earthen Path Organic Farm (Lake City, Minnesota) has built an innovative greenhouse that allows him to extend his growing season while reducing energy costs. SARE’s Farmer-Rancher Grants program provided critical assistance for Schwen in the beginning phases of his project.”
Hello from Japan!
Totally from left field but in Japan we have another technique to warm up the ground and was wondering whether it could be applied to your Minnesota greenhouse design. It involves drilling a hole 30 meters into the ground, inserting a closed loop tubing filled with antifreeze, then exchanging the heat with another, hot water based floor/ground heating system.
There’s a small animation in the below video from 1:01:30. Unfortunately only in Japanese but if you email me specific section of the video I can translate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2eqFB2KdHQ
I’m not a builder nor an engineer but both videos just piqued my interest. More sustainable power to you!
Geothermal is effective. However the cost is a big deterrent to many.
It seems like it would be pretty easy to improve the efficiency of this design by using a Frost Protected Shallow Foundation http://www.finehomebuilding.com/design/departments/energy-smart-details/frost-protected-shallow-foundations.aspx a straw bale wall on the north side, etc.